Barrel-making machine



(No Model.)

J. JQPH ILBRIGK. BARREL MAKING MACHINE.

No; 334,607; Patenjpgd Jan. 19, 1886.

ATTORNEYS.

, UNITED STATES I PATENT OFFICE.

JOSIAH J. PHILBRICILIOF BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA.

BARREL-MAKING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 334,607,6lated January19.1886. Application filed March 30, 1885. Serial No. 160,700. (Nomodel.)

.To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known thatI, J osIAH J. PHILBRIOK, of Birmingham, inthe county ofJefferson and State of Alabama, have invented a new and Improved Machinefor Use in Raising and Goopering Barrels, of which the following is afull, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to machines for use in raising and cooperihgbarrels, and has for its object to facilitate these operations, and atthe same time allow more effective trussing of the staves and hold themeven across the edge joints on both faces, and keep the croze of thestaves even or in line all around the barrel or cask, so the headswillfill the croze, and a perfectlytight barrel or cask will be produced.

The invention consists in certain novel con= structions of parts ofthemachine, and in combination of said parts, all as hereinafter fullydescribed and claimed.

Reference is to be'had to the accompanying drawings, forming part ofthis specification, in which similar letters ofreference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure l is an elevation of my improved machine for use in raising andcoopering barrels. Fig. 2 is a top View of the expansible crozering andits'supports at the head of the stand. Fig. 3 is a transverse verticalsection taken on the line x at, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is an elevation of thelower part of the machine-stand, taken at right angles to the same partin Fig. 1, and Fig. 5 is a plan view of the base-piece of the stand.

The letter A indicates the expansible metal croze-ring,fwhich issupported on end shoulders, a, of the'plates B, which plates serve asrests for the ring, and are fitted to the arms 0, which radiate from acentral hub, 0', through which a set-screw, 0, passes, for hold- 7 ingthe head 0 O at any desired height on the post D of the stand, said postbeing preferably made of a piece of metal pipe, combining lightness withstrength, and the post is hinged to a foot piece or block, as and forthe purpose hereinafter set forth. ,I make the ringrests B preferablywith oppositeside flanges, b b, which loosely fit the opposite edges ofthe arms 0 of the head, and the rests have slots b, through whichset-screws b are passed into the arms for holding the rests firmlythereto 1 and allowing their adjustment along the arms to fit rings A ofvarious sizes used in raising barrels or half-barrelsof varyingdiameters and capacities. I make the ring A with a vertically-rangingband, a, and a horizontally-ranging flange, a", projecting outward fromit at or near its lower edge, the band a, serving as a stop or rest tothe inner faces of the barrel-staves, and the flange a entering thecrozing e of the staves, the flange being beveled on the under side nextits outer edge, to facilitate its entrance within the crozing as thestaves are placed against the band a, as will be understood from Fig. 3,wherein a barrel-stave is shown at E in dotted lines. The ring A is anopen or split ring, and to one of its ends, a and atthe inner face isfixed one end of a spring, F, which overlaps the opposite end, a*,of thering, and has a tooth or catch, f,which is adapted to enter any oneofaseries of notches,g, formed on theinner face ofend a, so as to holdthe ring at different degrees of expansion, or rather to hold the ringagainst expansion when itis contracted to an extreme limit by theoperation of trnssing the staves against the ring. as hereinafter morefully explained. The free end f of spring Fis bent inward to facilitategrasping it to throw its catch f from the notches 9 prior to raising andcoopering the next barrel.

' To prevent twisting of the ends a a, I provide on end a a lug, G,which enters aslot, H, in spring F, and keeps the separated ends of thecroze-flange a in line with each other. I prefer to form the lug G byslitting the band a vertically down to the flange afiand bending thesevered portion of the band backward or inward; but the lug may be anattached piece, if desired.

The letter I indicates the foot-piece, in which thestand-postD is fixedby screwing it in place or otherwise, and the foot-piece is hinged on astrong pin, '5, to the head of a base-block, J, which rises from thebase-plate K, which has a series of holes, it, through which screws orbolts may be passed for fastening the machine to the floor.

On the foot-piece I is a lug or shoulder, i, which contacts a shoulder,j, on block J when the stand-post D is erect, and to the side ofthefoot-piece I is pivoted,on astrong pin or screw, Z, the lever L, thelower end of which may be forced into a notch, Z, in the block J orbaseplate K, so as to cross the hinge-joint and pre- Vent the post Dfrom folding down on the pivot 'i, and the shoulders ijlimit the backswing of the post, so the lever will be guided into the notch l, to holdthe head-piece and expansible ringin positionwhile thebarrel is raisedaround the ring. ImaketheleverLwith its upper part, Z, bent to one side,so it may more easily be grasped and operated, and back of the pivotithe foot-piece I is cut away, as at i to form a stop to prevent thelever swinging too far when its lower end is thrown from the notch l toallow the post D and its attachments to be swung down on the hinge-pinz'when the raised barrel is partly trussed with the ringA in the crozeof the staves. A screw-bolt, l\I,with a stop-nut, m, is fitted into thetop of a short standard, N, fixed to the base-piece J and serves as astop against which the foot-piece I may strike when the post D is swungdown, to prevent the shifting of rests B by striking the inside of thebarrel or the floor. The stop M being adjustable, the downward swing ofpost D may be limited as desired; but a fixed stop may be used when themachine is employed in raising barrels of uniform size. The lever L isshort enough to allow the head-frame O O to be lowered on post D to suithalf-barrels or casks. A suffic-ient number of expansible rings A willbe provided for each size of barrel or cask to suit the number ofcoopers employed, and the rings will be of like diameter with the sizeof the finished barrel as first made, so that when the ring expandsuntil the inner end of lug G strikes the outer end of slot H of thecatch F the expansion of the ring will be limited so the ring will havean exact sizewhich will be stamped on itto gage a circle of staves,which, when fitting against the ring edge to edge, will form barrels ofexact size and diameter when coopered to receive in the croze headspreviously rounded and finished to a uniform size, thus avoiding thetrouble and delay of using calipers to find the diameter of headrequired. \Vhen the ring A is fully expanded, a space of about one inchwill be left between the extremities of its ends a to, allowing fortrussing the barrel tightly after its staves have been shrunk by theusual firing or heating process.

The operation of the machine is as follows: Rings A of proper size willbe selected, and the rests B will be set on the arms 0, to hold therings-one at a time-snugly on the shoulders a of the rests, as in Fig.2, and the entire head of the stand will be lowered or set on post D, sothat the croze e of the upper ends of the finished staves will receivethe flange a of the ring A,when the edges of the staves at or near theirupper ends lie quite closely to each other, while the lower spread endsof the staves rest on the floor. A stave will now be set across theopening of the ring at its ends a a*, and the staves marked for eachbarrel will all be set up around the ring with the flange ain the uppercroze. The truss-hoops will now be placed on the bilge and at the headof the barrel, and the head truss will be driven to tighten the innerfaces of the staves against the band a, and the bilge-truss then will betightened thoroughly, which will gather the staves so as to lift thering A from the shoulders a of rests B, and the lever L then will beswung from the notch l, and the entire head part ofthestand will beswung over on pin i, so that the partly-formed barrel rests on its sideon the floor and can be removed from the head-frame with the ring Astill in the croze of the staves, and the barrel then will be fired inthe usual way to shrink the staves, whereupon the barrel may be trussedtightly while on the floor, and during the final trussing operation thering A will yield or contract as thejoints of thestaves are tightened,and at the same ti me the outward pressure of the ring-band a againstthe inward pressure of the head-truss will keep the inner and outerfaces of the uniformlythick staves even all around the barrel, andwithout requiring a hammering of the staves, as usually is done, and thering-flange a will hold the croze of the staves even or in line allaround the barrel. As the ring A will remain in the croze of the barreluntil the opposite head of the barrel is put in place and held by thehoops, both heads of the barrel will fill their respective croze allaround, and the barrel will be perfectly close and tight at the chines,which would not be the case if the croze of the heads were out of lineat any point, as will readily be understood. After removing theheadtruss next the ring A the staves will open sufficiently to allow theringwhich yet is held by the spring-catch F at the extreme limit of itscontraction-t0 be removed from the croze, and the head at that end canbe put in place, and the staves then will be hooped tightly around thehead in the usual manner, and the barrel is complete. By releasing thespring F from the notch g, with which it is engaged, the ring A willexpand readily for use again with the stand D O B when the stand hasbeen raised and locked in erect position by the lever L entering thenotch l, as aboveexplained. Theangularcross'sectional shape of the ringA gives it great strength to resist the strain of trussing the barrel orcask on an uneven floor without throwing the croze of the staves out ofline, and the ring thus shaped also catches little heat when firing thebarrel; hence the croze is not liable to be burned out or weakened so itwill not hold the head firmly.

Having thus described my inventiomwhat I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a machine for raising and coopering barrels, a spring croze-ring,A, with band a, croze-flange a and the supports B, adjustable up anddown by means of the post D, as described, so that the ring A isretained on the outer ends of the supports B to receive the croze of thestaves on the flange a and the face of the ends of the staves to 'restagainst to the opposite end, a, to govern the expanthe band a, as setforth. sion of the croze-ring A, substantially as de- 2; In a machinefor raising and coopering scribed barrels, the expansible and adjustablespring I JOSIAH J. PHILBRICK. 5 croze-ring A, having a lug, G, securedto the Witnesses:

end a thereof, to move back and forth in a E. K. FULTON,

slot, H, formed inthe spring-catch F, secured S. LOVETT.

